


Keeper

by meggannn



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/M, Jealousy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-07
Updated: 2012-06-07
Packaged: 2017-11-09 07:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/452899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meggannn/pseuds/meggannn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He spies them through the bar window and swears his breath catches in his throat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keeper

**Author's Note:**

> [carlosfitzosborne](http://carlosfitzosborne.tumblr.com/)
> 
> and an anon requested Mako being jealous over Tahno and Korra after walking in on them.

He spies them through the bar window and swears his breath catches in his throat.

Which is ridiculous, of course, because it’s not like he’s Korra’s keeper, and he doesn’t have any right to tell her who to date or who to spend her time with, and it wasn’t like he expected her to wait around for him forever or anything – but… well, couldn’t she have picked someone a bit more… spirits, did she  _have_  to pick Tahno?

It looks like a date. Fuck, he thinks it is. He’s got his frigging arm around her shoulders – what else could it be?

…He should just go back to the Air Temple. Why had he gone out again? Groceries, right. Moon peaches for Pabu and snacks for the airbending kids.

But Mako presses his nose to the window instead, thankful for the darkness of the night that will shield him from view on the other side of the glass. Tahno and Korra are sitting at the bar, laughing at something, and he’s got to admit, Tahno looks – well. He’s not looking like to the cocky, arrogant scumbag that had cheated his way into the finals anymore. His hair is cropped shorter, face a little brighter, and… all right, from this angle in that lighting with that weird twisty somewhere-between-a-smirk-and-a-grin kind of smile, he can kind of understand why he’s so popular with the girls.

Still, he’d thought Korra would have better taste than…

Whatever. He’s with Asami. Groceries. Right.

Mako doesn’t allow him to think about Korra with Tahno – it couldn’t have been a date, please, she would never have that poor taste – for a full five days. Really, it’s none of his business anyway. Korra can date who she likes. Not that she  _is_ dating Tahno necessarily, but even if they were, he wouldn’t care. He’s with Asami. He  _adores_ Asami, he really does, she’s sweet and this whole Korra thing is going to pass. He’s just a bit confused. It’s not like he’s thought of Korra like –  _that_  – ever since they decided to be friends. He cares about her, sure. Just not like that. Of course not.

But on the fifth day after his shopping trip he goes to fetch Korra for dinner and opens the door to discover a very heated, very  _horizontal_  couple very lip-locked on Korra’s bed.

“Damn,” Tahno mutters, hair mussed. He’s shirtless and dazed, looking a bit out of it in a blissful state of confusion. “Guess we’ve been caught.”

Korra scrambles upright, flushing with anger and something else, he’d imagine, but he won’t let himself think about… that. Not right now.

(Spirits, but she looks kind of gorgeous with her hair down, and swollen lips…)

Korra scrambles for her Water Tribe parka and throws it over her head, as if to cover herself up. “Would it kill you to knock – ?”

“Dinner,” Mako croaks. “It’s ready. Just… wanted to let you know.” He glances at Tahno, who’s looking torn between amusement and irritation – Mako grits his teeth because  _fuck_  the man for having the gall to try to pull it all off attractively – and swallows. “Should I, uh, tell them to save another seat?”

Tahno starts to speak – Mako swears he can see the word _yes_  about to leave his tongue – but Korra interrupts.

“No,” she says as she pulls her boots on. “He was just leaving. Tell them I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

To his credit, Tahno accepts the dismissal graciously, and rises to pull on his shirt. “Perhaps another time,” he says casually, and Mako notices that Korra is most determinately avoiding both of their gazes as she straightens up.

Mako can’t think of any way to keep the situation from getting any more awkward by staying in the room, though he’s loathe to leave her with Tahno again – but he does anyway, nodding and closing the door behind him, before walking back to the dining hall.

So what if she likes Tahno. It’s not like he cares, anyway. She can date who she wants to. He’s not her keeper.

…Right.


End file.
